What advice would you give your past self before starting a Clinical PhD program?

[mandak]

I will be starting a clinical PhD program next month (woo hoo!). I am wondering what advice you would have given your past self before you started the program.

For example, do you wish you would have kept track of your hours in research or clinic experience? Would you have taken better notes in a certain class? Would you have started your thesis earlier?

I want to avoid common mistakes that people in this specific, rigorous program make. I would appreciate any advice about spreadsheets to create or software to get that may help me stay organized.

Thank you in advance!

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[Boston2k]

Congrats! You have a lot to look forward to. I will put 2 things out there:

1. Remember that in most instances, you are a student, not an employee, except to the specific source that is funding you. Even in fully funded programs, in some roundabout way you are paying them to get training/education, and they often owe you, not the other way around (e.g., if you teach a class, they get money from your tuition so you are paying them, then you teach to pay it back; another way to consider might be what if you taught at another university for pay or worked in another university's lab, so that you could pay your home university tuition). Consider who pays you, you have a strong allegiance is to them.

There is a balance to be found: you do want to play nice, and you will have to do some undesirable things. There will be some silly program requirements that you will have to suck up and do. However, departments as a whole and many faculty (possibly including your advisor) will treat you as if you are their employee, even when they are not funding you. Your time is limited and they owe you something if they are not directly paying you. Three common ways this manifests itself: the outright jerk/manipulative faculty who is a poor responder to feedback, the totally absent mentor/faculty, and the "nice" faculty member who is anxious and ruminates way too much about everything, slowing everything down (and this person often can end up being passive aggressive, hence the "nice" is in quotations). Often this latter faculty is secretly more dangerous and can lose students, because while on a day to day basis they are nicer to be around, they interfere with your main reason to be in grad school: to get to the next stage! There are plenty of other pleasant people in town you can hang out with, you need the people who are your gatekeepers to graduating to actually help you to get there (this is not an either/or situation, they should be interpersonally reasonable but also professionally empowering). By virtue of getting into this program you are good at what you do - be generous and kind, but don't let other people take advantage of that, especially on an extended basis - it's easier to do 1-time favors then commit an extra 3-5 hours per week indefinitely. They owe you something for your time and efforts, and if other people offer you more/better things for the same work, consider giving them your time/switching advisors (see #2 before doing this).

2. Form 2 networks of people: at least 2 peers (if you need more then great, but at least get a critical mass) who are nice and well-adjusted people, and at least 2 faculty who also are well-adjusted, but also productive (i.e., look for both the personality and the career success). There are a lot of unwritten rules in the field; this thread is a good start, and these boards are great, but there are too many small nuances for them to cover everything, and there will be specific quirks that are applicable only to your department. The peer network will help keep you abreast of good opportunities to be had and conversely random things to avoid in your program (if you can get both peers at your level as well as upper years, all the better; this network can manifest as a couple of close friends plus a larger number of informal but positive relationships). Go out to lunch with these people, watch some TV with them, chitchat and have a good time. The faculty network will tell you the career stuff you need to know. For example, part of your first question regarding starting your thesis earlier - your advisor may have the right answer about this, but if you have the input of 2-3 faculty, this can put a check on your advisor (if you hear 2-3 different opinions, that is a signal to consider the issue carefully). Advisors often advise based on what "worked" for them and their personal experience, which does reflect a high level of expertise but of course comes with a number of problems. In considering the point in part #1 about if you need to switch advisors, you can see how these networks would benefit you - the same-level peers can tell you if your experience is unreasonable or incongruent with theirs, the upper-level peers can tell you if a number of people have left the same faculty member in the past, and the faculty advisors can tell you if switching advisors is bad for your career and if you choose to make the switch, then how to do it so that you offend the fewest amount of people (though at times you probably will have to offend some people - if they are unreasonable, you do not need to apologize for this, but you can still work to minimize the damage).

I recognize this is a lot of text about the possible downsides - there's a ton of fun to be had and many great experiences you will have, and it's good to focus on those. That being said, If you can avoid a few major tripping points, that will make these good times even better without being dampened. Best of luck!

 

[PsychMajorUndergrad18]

Well since I am still a UG student, if I were to give my past self some advice it would be:

1) Don't slack of in your first year or so of classes
2) Find other interests/subjects you want to study earlier on in your program (aka take a few feeler classes in other disciplines other than psych so you are more well rounded than trying to take every single course in psych). If I taken more courses in say, history and poli sci early on, I may have been able to pull of a double minor instead of doing a double major in psych and history.
3) Don't be afraid to talk with and form academic relationships with your professors early on
4) Take tons and tons of notes and actually read your textbook (I know its hard to do it when there is wayyyyy more funnier things to do at the time)
5) Don't go to a veryyyy expensive private school and rack up buckets full of debt/loans

I just thought itd be great to do a upper level UG student advice for the past self thing.

 

[CircadianSleep]

Congrats on your admission mandak! I'm starting my second year in a funded clinical psychology Ph.D. program in the fall.

Looking back on my first year, here's my advice:

1) Keep an open mind when it comes to your specific area of clinical and research interest. You've gained admission by finding a specific fit with your research advisor. However, be on the lookout for opportunities to collaborate with other faculty members and your fellow students with different backgrounds. It can make for some interesting opportunities. My niche is in sleep disorders. I've found this area to dovetail nicely with other researchers interested in PTSD, suicide, and marital satisfaction. This has put the wheels in motion for future collaborations between our projects. Expand those horizons.

2) B + B = Ph.D. Get good grades, but don't spend 90% of your time reading every sentence of every assigned reading (150+ pages of material was pretty standard for an average week of coursework during my first 2 semesters). Try and strike a balance between doing well in your courses, but also devoting a really good chunk of time to your research. I'm at a cumulative 4.0 in my program, but I spent a LOT of time being compulsive about reading everything during my first semester. I had to make a conscious effort to focus on key points from each reading and was able to get the same grades while devoting much more time to research during my second semester. This was the biggest lesson I've learned so far.

3) Try and use existing data for your Master's thesis. I'm using publicly-available neuroimaging data for my Master's thesis, and will be able to publish 5+ additional manuscripts on different research questions using this database combined with some of my advisors previously collected and unpublished data. This will allow research productivity while collecting data for your dissertation project if existing data and/or databases are available. You can add 1-2 years onto completing your Master's thesis if you start a project from scratch.

In terms of software, I use a program called Docear to manage material for all of my courses. It's open access and free (http://www.docear.org/). It allows you to have a nice visual representation of your class, which I arrange by date (with separate sections for syllabus topic for the day, assigned readings, assignments, and lecture slides). For me, it's really helped keep everything organized when it would be easy to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of material you're assigned on a weekly basis if you organize them using folders and subfolders on your computer.

Hope some of this is helpful. Keep us updated with how you're liking your program once classes start in the fall!

 

[kathygeiss]

I agree with some points that have already been made, especially to try to internalize early on that you're going to have to cut corners with classwork, and that unlike undergrad, it is the least important thing on your task list. One of the most beneficial things to learn in grad school is how to be efficient with your time- which corners you can cut while still doing a good enough job. I often comment that grad school is about doing a good enough job in about 9 different areas, and probably not having enough time/resources to put in 100% in a single one of them.

My two cents on other things I've learned:

1) One of the most important things to me has been creating a network of friends outside of grad school. I love my grad school friends, but having friends that don't let me talk about my job has been so beneficial to my well-being.

2) Keep an open mind. For example, I thought autism work didn't sound very interesting when I was a first year. Then, a funding opportunity opened up for me to do ASD evaluations, and I absolutely loved it and am contemplating including this in a future career. Try things in research and clinical realms even if you don't think it sounds like something you'd like.

3) I had a different experience with my thesis from other commenters on this post in that I collected my own data and I don't regret it. I think on this point people (including me) are going to be biased toward what they chose, but there are definite pros and cons to archival as well as collecting your own data. It's definitely true that you can move quickly through this milestone through doing an archival project, and that's an important consideration. However, collecting your own data can be an opportunity to start your own program of research, see a project through independently from design to write- up, and demonstrate this independence to your adviser (not that you can't do these things with archival- one is not better than the other, just different). I think it's also possible to make up time at the dissertation stage if your masters builds on a method/ theory, etc. that you explored in your masters (this has been my experience). Which brings me to..

4) Everyone's different. Try out the advice you receive, but ultimately figure out what works for you.

Finally, even though this has been incredibly difficult and taxing at times, every so often I reflect on how lucky I am to even be in a program like this. It might sound cheesy, but I still remember what it felt like to be in the position where I just hoped one program would offer me a spot.

Good luck!

 

[deleted343839]

All right, I'll bite. Three pieces of advice I would have given myself:

(1) Your advisor might sign off on your research ideas, but take time to think them through yourself, especially in terms of feasibility and impact, to avoid wasting time going down blind alleys. Solicit and consider feedback on your work from others early on.
(2) Learn about the people ahead of you who have gone on to nice tenure-track jobs. Figure out what they did and try to emulate it to the extent that it makes sense for your career goals.
(3) Get a solid grip on your finances. Start reading up on personal finance.

 

[Justanothergrad]

all great points covered above.

1. Learn the skills/organization needed to be a closer on research projects. You will spend a ton of time on the project, so figure out how not to waste that time getting "only a poster"

2. Don't fret over the scope of your dissertation/thesis. Create solid/good projects, but don't try to change the world. Simply put, thats not what those projects are for. They are to demonstrate competence and skill. Its easier to do other, larger projects independently with less hoop jumping and hassle. If you want to be a clinician, this is doubly important.

3. Assume that most of your presumptions about training/psychologists that you learned in undergrad are incomplete or inaccurate in several ways.Try everything (new theoretical orientations, treatments, settings, and even research as well) with an open mind to figure out what the whole psychology thing really is.

4. Take well organized notes and scan them to reduce clutter at the house.

and most especially, this one:

Learn to say no.

 

[PsyDr]

Keep a poker face and be the last one to talk. It's much easier to let other students say something and take the heat.

Take the easy way out on your dissertation. No one reads those.

Create a hell of a lot of templates. Papers, reports, notes.

Read more than your assigned readings. You're paying for this education.

 

[Harry3990]

Keep a poker face and be the last one to talk. It's much easier to let other students say something and take the heat.

I can think of several situations to which this might apply and be helpful, but I'm just curious as to whether you had any specific examples in mind regarding this.

 

[PsyDr]

At the beginning there were times when professors would assign stuff when we already had an enormous load from another professor. Some usually asked if we could delay one thing or another. Ended up happening but the professors didn't like that too much.

Some students were crazy. I might have laughed or had a fellow student who exchanged facial expressions about when stuff happened. Might not have gone over well.

 

[CircadianSleep]

On my year-end feedback meeting with my PI, the only negative comment raised from faculty was that I consider "knowing my role as a graduate student" more during our member behavioral medicine research group meetings. I would tend to ask questions about whether other PIs had considered adding more objective / biological methods to their research to help answer some unresolved questions that self-report couldn't address. This was considered jumping the gun as a first-year grad student from some professors. So, a poker face during these times may have been beneficial. Maybe asking these questions after presentations to the individual researcher vs. in front of the group of other faculty and students.

On the other hand, I received feedback that my professors really appreciated my regular comments and questions in our courses (which formed part of our grade for participation). So, striking a balance between adding (useful) comments during your classes and research meetings and not overstepping your "role" as a graduate student may be useful to keep in mind. I'll have to work on striking that balance more in my second year in the program.

 

[ClinicalABA]

-don't take yourself so seriously- you're pretty green and have a lot to learn
-don't rent if you can buy
-seek out info from non-academic psychologist on the realities of day-to-day professional practice (e.g. Insurance billing, liability, budgeting, marketing)
-it'll be over and far in the past soon- enjoy it, do what you got to do to get done what needs to be done, commiserate and celebrate with your peers, and have fun with it. It can all be a big pain in the ass, but it's a unique phase of your life so take some time to appreciate the opportunity